Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Aftermarket parts

The prolonged silence around this joint is largely because I'm pretty much in the terminal segment of the descending branch of my appointment with the MOPAR guy; I'm getting a total hip replacement next Tuesday. My right side has gotten so bad that just moving is painful and small children point at me and scream when I hobble past. Yes, I look like The Hunchback, you little bastards. I know.

I won't pretend I'm thrilled. Yes, the result will be better than my present crippled mess. No, it's not "good". It's just better than what I have. I am still resentful and angry that I've been dealt a shitty hand and can't do anything but play it out. There are also the risks attendant on any large surgery AND the time and effort that go into a painful recovery. Like a Republican voter, I'm angry that I have to deal with the painful and difficult present to get to the promised better future that may or may not arrive.

Speaking of those fucking idiots...is there anyone who can pretend that something like 15-20% of the U.S. electorate hasn't lost its fucking mind? I mean, here's a guy who is just a ridiculous buffoon, a raw, infiltered Id-iot demagogue that has openly espoused torture, racism, aggressive war and domestic espionage. Closing houses of worship? Seriously? You'd think that even a mouth-breathing cousin-marriage-spawned Christopath would have been out the door on THAT one.

Speaking of which...this year's Republican primaries have done a great job of reminding me why political Christianity - at least, as it commonly appears in the "conservative" spectrum of U.S. politics - appeals to me about as much as a solid dose of the clap.

Fred Clarke notes that it's not a matter of some sort of individual choice on the part of the bible-bangers as much as it is a complete failure of the Christian Right to include any sort of genuinely Christian ethics in their catechism;

"...the Christian moral formation of these supposed Christians they have not been offered an adequate inoculation against this kind of politics. What they needed was instruction in a version of Christianity with ironclad commitments to civility, solidarity, justice, mercy, compassion, rule of law, and human rights, commitments so strong and so well-engrained in believers that to support someone like Trump would be unthinkable. But they have not received that inoculation."

This isn't just Trump. His closest rival, Ted Cruz, spouts similar noxious bullshit, and the Jesus-pesterers eat it up.

The full effect appears to be that the "vulgar talking yam", as Pierce likes to call him, is all over the GOP like stank on an old gym shoe. Barring a complete disaster he will be the candidate this fall, and I cannot imagine a worse indictment of the goddamn U.S. public. The GOP cannot help this nation in any way if it is the Party of Trumpism. There is nothing that can be said other than what I've said here again and again; Ceterum censeo GOP esse delendam.

The GOP serves no real useful purpose at this point. And, worse, in its existing form it is destroying the political conventions that make U.S. governance possible. We’re rapidly approaching 1859, and for much the same reasons only instead of slavery the hothouse ideology “threatened” by change is some sort of hellbrew of racism, greed, and flopsweat panic fear of imaginary jihadi invasion.

And stupidity – if you’re voting for Republicans because you’re mad at the wealthy vulture capitalists shipping your job overseas you’re in the same position as a pig voting for Jimmy Dean. Racist, greedy, and stupid is no way to go through life, son, and yet it's pretty much the default Republican position on, well, everything.

Oh, yeah, and there's their take on the fucking Malheur Morons. Oddly, the only one of the clowns that hasn't openly embraced the Metal Mulisha is Trump. Probably because they lost, and losers lose; Trumps are winning winners that win! Christ on a fucking crutch.

Nuke it from space. Seriously. That’s the only fucking way to be sure.

Oh, one more thing since we've been talking about Il Douche; at least he gave someone the inspiration for this:

Gad, what a vile shitshow these people are.

Did I tell you that the Girl has taken up the ancient sport and combat skill of archery?

She and the Bride have been going to our local Trackers indoor range to shoot, and both of them have become damn proficient, the Amazons. Speaking of which, my inamorata - who is still abundantly endowed even after going through surgery to reduce the endowment - says that she has developed a whole ne appreciation for the old story about the women warriors being, um, monomammilary. She has to alter her stance fairly significantly to about getting slapped with the bowstring in a rather delicate place.

Anyway, Trackers is pretty much made of awesome. We're talking a place where you can live-action roleplay, or learn to smithy a utility knife, or card wool and spin cloth, or find medicinal plants. I would have been all over Trackers if we'd had one whan I was a kid, and I love the Little Miss loves her some Trackers.

Here's a couple of snapshots of the two maenads firing away. Here's the Girl:

Mojo takes up a good kneeling unsupported firing position:

Contemplating the perforated foes:

Good shooting, ladies!

I've enjoyed all this Robin Hoody exercise, although my personal fantasy is as a Parthian horse-archer at Carrhae, and so as such I've tried to duplicate the tactic of starting with my back to the target, stringing, turning and firing.

Let's just say that the Parthians and I are lucky I was born 2,000 years too late.

I hope to soon hear that you are now able to dance up scree filled slopes.

As far as the Donald goes, he does anger very well. There are a lot of scared and angry people out there. He even appears to have won the GOP Latino vote in Nevada (about 44 of the hundred or so there are).

I go back and forth between thinking it's great T.rump will be the nominee because his support cannot possibly extend beyond the pig people, and terrible because omg, Americans are really that stupid (exhibit A: Little Boots Bush) and he might actually get elected.

Best wishes on the hip surgery and recovery, Chief. I understand your frustration with the hand you've been dealt but it could have been worse. I've met a number of people who have dealt with chronic pain their entire lives. That is seriously NO FUN!

On the subject of Trump, I have to disagree with your analysis. He is not a bloviating idiot, he is intelligently exploiting the surprisingly large number of scared and angry voters (most of whom seem to be Republicans) who do not truly think about the consequences of their actions.

His antics give him plenty of room to do and say just whatever he thinks will get him the most number of votes at this moment in time. His supporters simply tune out the parts they don't want to hear, which is unique in the current pool of presidential candidates. Barring a major catastrophe, he is going to win Super Tuesday in a landslide and by the end of March he WILL be the Republican candidate for the Presidency.

This gives him time to shift his message to something more palatable to the more centrist voters and time to analyze Hillary and find her numerous weak spots. Her biggest problem is that the Donald absolutely refuses to stand still, he is always darting and dodging and changing positions and always attacking. Hillary does not handle surprises well and the Donald is nothing but surprises.

This is going to be a long, dirty campaign with an ending that is unsatisfactory for 49% of the population.

Worse, the Donald has successfully proven that reality TV is a much more effective campaigning platform than the standard grass-roots approach. Trump and his very large army of semi-disciplined bored malcontents will be the death knell of the republic.

Pluto: I won't disagree that Il Douche is the only passenger of the clown car that has realized that the U.S. electoral process is (as Taibbi points out in his terrific piece) a reality TV show that can be dominated by the loudest moron. That doesn't mean he's "intelligently exploiting" dick. A labrador retriever knows exactly how to find a pile of dog shit in a public park, which makes him about as smart as a labrador retriever. Trump is winning because the electoral process has become as bloated, moronic, and corrupt as he is; that's not exactly some sort of MENSA deal.

And he IS a bloviating idiot in every other sense. His "positions" are moronic where he has any at all. He's not "darting and dodging", he's careening from utter nonsense to ridiculous lies and back simply because he doesn't give a shit. He HAS no "positions", he has a monstrous ego and a big mouth and the latter blarts out whatever bubbles up out of the former. While I agree that this appeals to the goddamn U.S. public that's not testimony to Trump's cunning and brilliance but, rather, a condemnation of the collective stupidity of the goddamn U.S. public.

He WILL be the GOP candidate, which is, as you conclude, in itself the most damning indictment of the U.S. electoral system and the State of the Nation that I can think of.

And I think you overestimate the appeal of Trump's bullying and underestimate the ability of Clinton to deal with it. Remember, she's been the HilBeast to the GOP for decades. She's heard all of his bullshit before coming from the pieholes of Darryl Issa and every other GOP skin sack.

I will agree that this will be an utterly horrible campaign. But I think that Trump's appeal is grossly overstated by the utter dysfunction and fucktardry of the GOP "base". The moron has about 30-50% of the 27-percenters who luuuuurve him. That translates to about 10-15% of the electorate as a whole. Throw in another 10% who'd vote for a dead weasel before a Clinton and he's likeot to get MAYBE 20-40% of the popular vote. Maybe, and that's assuming that the press continues to utterly whore for him.

Chief, I'd like to think that you are right but I am uncomfortable with your analysis. It sounds an awful lot like the analysis of the Republican party leadership when they laughed at Trump and figured he'd be out of the race by the end of the New Hampshire primary. Instead he's running the show and has brought the entire Republican party down to his level.

I do not see anything in Hillary's history that says she will do well when she becomes part of the real-time reality TV show/World Wrestling Federation extravaganza that Trump has created from our election process. Furthermore, I think you have far too much faith in the American voter. Go to realclearpolitics.com. Trump is in a virtual tie with Hillary in national polls of members of both parties.

I fear that we are going to get a very strange cross between Jesse Ventura and the worst of Richard Nixon for the next four years.

Oh, I don't discount Trump's skills. He's a top-notch conman and carny, and he's figured out that the U.S. electoral process has become an enormous scam.

But he's a conman. And, like any conman he can't afford to work the marks too hard. In the general - if Clinton's people are even semi-competent - they'll hit him over and over about his moron-grade "policies". And nothing is angrier than a mark when he's exposed as a mark.

One huge reason Trump is invulnerable to attack in the primary is that the other fatheads believe the same whackadoodle shit he does. So, f'rinstance, they can't hammer away at his patently ludicrous and legally dangerous "deport all beaners and blackmail Mexico into paying for Hadrians Wall" because a) their own ideas are similar and b) they know the base is just that stupid and racist. But in the general that gets mocked as the Big Stupid it is, and Trump looks like a fool.

Sure, right now Trump polls OK because he looks no worse and even slightly less awful than Tailgunner Ted or Roborubio. But even w all her negatives Clinton looks utterly sane compared to any of these klowns.

Again, your statements are all true but I think you overestimate the American voter.

The Donald does NOT have a platform. He has said a lot of things and you have accurately reported some of them but he contradicts himself all the time. He stands for NOTHING and consistently attacks everybody else's positions and is allowed to get away with it. His positions will change as soon as he has disposed of the rest of the mouth-breathing Republican candidates and his followers will accept it because in a Hillary vs. Donald race they have to vote for somebody and they will no vote for Hillary.

I disagree with you that the Donald is any more of a conman than any other candidate in the race. All successful politicians will say whatever it takes to get elected. The difference between the Donald and everybody else is that he has somehow gotten to the point where he doesn't actually need to hold a position to win, and like Sherman's March to the Sea, he is attacking constantly, burning everything before him, and not leaving any supplies for people who would come after him.

Yes, Hillary is utterly sane compared to everybody else but the Donald has turned sanity into a disadvantage and he stands a very good chance of winning if she cannot figure out how to counter that without going crazy herself.

Well...if that's true; that the "American voter" is really That. Fucking. Stupid. then we ARE thoroughly fucked and there's really no there there. We've attained Peak Stupid and there's nothing to be done except try and die before the inevitable consequences arrive.

But...I honestly think that it's difficult to be sure of that. The GOP base IS that stupid, and even then only about 40% or so really lurve for The Donald. Trying to expand that to the general is really problematic, again, because a Clinton (or a Sanders) campaign can hammer Trump's idiocy and whackitude in ways that no GOP challenger can.

You may be right, and those attacks may not matter. If so, then the game is over and the self-government experiment has cratered.

At this point I have to think otherwise, and work to the extent I can to MAKE things otherwise. But...if Trump wins (or, frankly, gets more than 40% of the vote in the general) we truly are so, so, so, so, so, SO fucked.

Trump is perhaps the purest distillation of the Party of Calhoun and the vile retrograde ideas at its heart. Clinton is no saint, but she's 1,000 times better on the subject than any of the GOP candidates on the issue, and that in itself is a referendum on this nation.

I was old enough to remember Wallace's campaigns, and I have no illusions about how alive and vicious the racism in my own country is today. But if the American public is presented with such a clear binary choice between past racism and present progress and chooses the former, well...

So sorry the google dominated comment bit for phones isn't working for me. That is how I do most of my reading these days.

Try not being as disgusted about the hip job as the political job, ok? My beekeeping mentor had a long needed hip replacement back in about 2004. I spent the week at his house post- hospital, changing dressings and seeing to it he gave his home visiting physical therapist no guff. It was a huge improvement for him, first time he was pain free in SUCH a long while.

As far as Trump, well, lets just say if the anti-depressants I took while Bush the Stupider was in office finally caused too many side-effects to continue; I don't know wtf I will do to endure what will occur if that asshole is elected. My worry has invaded my dreams -- I dream of standing on street corners shouting "Dump Trump the Chump!"

Good luck with the hip replacement! :) Once everything is done, I'm sure you'll be thankful for it!

Regarding Trump, I don't know much since I'm not American but word does reach even here in Australia...and...he's not very popular. I don't think I would trust anyone who needed to bring other people down in order to build himself up. Also not too fond of the way he talks about women...